An Eye for Murder (Prime Crime Mysteries) [Paperback]

Libby Fischer Hellmann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 3, 2002 | Series: Prime Crime Mysteries

When single mom Ellie Foreman tries to find out why her phone number was in a dead man's pocket, she unveils startling secrets about World War II, Chicago's Jewish community-and her own family.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sharp humor and vivid language distinguish Hellmann's Chicago-set debut. Ellie Forman, a recently divorced suburban mom, supports herself and her daughter by making documentaries, including a historical film, Celebrate Chicago, which has gained her local fame. The discovery of her name on a scrap of paper among the effects of an elderly gentleman, recently deceased in a Chicago rooming house, sets off a sinister chain of events and weaves an ever tightening web of intrigue. Preoccupied with her former husband's mounting stock losses, Ellie fails to put the pieces together until two more deaths and two attempted murders hit close to home. When her ex disappears and leaves her with a staggering amount of debt, Ellie panics, then turns her fear into determination to control her destiny. After taking on a new assignment to produce a campaign video for GOP Senate candidate Marian Iverson, she uncovers coincidences too startling to ignore. Soon Ellie is digging into a legacy of money and murder dating back to WWII and the Holocaust. A masterful blend of politics, history and suspense, this novel is well worth reading despite an overly complicated plot. Ellie is an engaging amateur sleuth whose wisdom grows as she learns the hard way that "Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet." Readers will hope they won't have to wait too long for Ellie's return.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"An old man dies alone in a boarding house in Chicago. A scrap of paper is discovered in his coat pocket with the name Ellie Foreman scribbled on it, along with a telephone number. The landlady who found him contacts Ellie, telling her about the note and asking how she is related to Ben Sinclair. Ellie, a documentary filmmaker, is baffled. She doesn't recognize his name. She goes to the dead man's apartment to try to find out what connection she could possibly have to the elderly man. Her search for answers only leads to more questions as she realizes that Ben was not who he had pretended to be. An old photograph, an unusual lighter, and a locked box seem to point to a mysterious past. But mystery gives way to terror when the landlady is killed and the young boy who taught the old man how to use the Internet to track Ellie is viciously attacked. Ellie finds herself thrown into the past as she is confronted with long-buried skeletons as well as current secrets that someone will kill to protect.
AN EYE FOR MURDER is a well-written debut novel that will keep you turning the pages. Hellman delivers her plot at a tempo that keeps the action moving and the reader intrigued. The characters are strong and the mystery demands a solution. I will be looking for the next offering from this talented new author."-MyShelf.Com

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Berkley; 1 edition (December 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 042518739X
• ISBN-13: 978-0425187395
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,495,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't start this unless you have time to fininsh it!, December 22, 2002

By 

N. Gargano "nokegchris" (Waynesville NC and Bradenton, Fl) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An Eye for Murder (Prime Crime Mysteries) (Paperback)

My title for my review says it all. I started this book and could not put it down until I had finished it. The story and the main character grabbed me from the first, and I found myself racing through the story to not only see the end, but see if my guesses were right. Well, on some I was right, on others, not! Still, I really enjoyed this book and applaud Ms. Hellmann from taking me away from this holiday cooking and shopping madness. I look forward to her next one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read with a likable protagonist, February 15, 2005

By 

Debra Hamel (North Haven, CT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: An Eye for Murder (Prime Crime Mysteries) (Paperback)

Documentary filmmaker Ellie Foreman's interest is piqued when she learns that an elderly stranger, Ben Sinclair, has died in a Chicago boarding house leaving a scrap of paper with her name on it among his possessions. Ellie's attempts to understand the deceased's interest in her, beginning with a meeting with the dead man's landlady, lead her into a much larger mystery: Sinclair's death is somehow connected with Nazi-era intrigue and Chicago politics, an illicit love affair, and more than one murder. While tracing Sinclair's steps on her own time, Ellie is hired to produce a campaign film for a senatorial candidate, the scion of a long-dead Chicago steel magnate, who may have skeletons of her own to conceal. Ellie's work on the campaign dovetails neatly into her private investigations, and she finds herself in increasingly hot water the closer she gets to the truth Sinclair had been trying to unravel before his death.

Libby Hellmann's An Eye for Murder is the first in a series of mysteries featuring filmmaker Ellie Foreman. It's a good read with a rather complex plot that, however, can become confusing if one isn't paying strict attention. In Ellie Hellmann has created a likable protagonist with an interesting circle of friends and family: Ellie, the divorced mother of a twelve-year-old daughter, has a fiscally irresponsible ex-husband, an unusually but charmingly devoted gardener, a cigar-smoking character of a father, and, as we see blooming in this first book in the series, a love interest in the person of fifty-something David Linden. Hellmann saddles Ellie with some unfortunate vices: she has a history of kleptomania, and it is hinted that she makes occasional use of drugs (not to mention alcohol and tobacco). In future installments these imperfections may serve to round out her character, but in the present book they seemed tacked on rather than organic. I will be interested to read future books in the series to see how Ellie develops, and how her ostensibly safe career as a documentarian involves her in new difficulties.

Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Engaging Heroine, Convoluted Plot, March 28, 2004

By 

Robert Wellen (CHICAGO, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: An Eye for Murder (Prime Crime Mysteries) (Paperback)

Hellmann's heroine is tough and honest woman. You can't help but like Ellie and her family and friends (her father is grand). However, the plot here is so over the top--Nazis, Chicago politics, etc, etc...that I got a bit lost. The resolution was too neat. The story needed a more steady pace. You can tell it is a first novel. As a native Chicagoan, I did like the the wonderful use of the city. I may read another Ellie Foreman novel to see how Hellmann has grown as a writer.